Contents

The National Recovery Guidance was produced in 2007 by the National Recovery Working Group (NRWG), as commissioned by ministers. New material is added to it regularly, as new information and guidance is produced and new case studies and lessons are identified.

Definitions

The National Recovery Guidance has been developed in line with the following Civil Contingencies Act (CCA) definitions.

Emergency

An event or situation that threatens serious damage to human welfare in a place in the UK or the environment of a place in the UK, or war or terrorism which threatens serious damage to the security of the UK. To constitute an emergency, an event or situation must additionally require the implementation of special arrangements by one or more Category 1 responder.

Response

Response encompasses the actions taken to deal with the immediate effects of an emergency. In many scenarios, it is likely to be relatively short and to last for a matter of hours or days – rapid implementation of arrangements for collaboration, co-ordination and communication are, therefore, vital. Response encompasses the effort to deal not only with the direct effects of the emergency itself (eg fighting fires, rescuing individuals) but also the indirect effects (eg disruption, media interest).

Recovery

The process of rebuilding, restoring and rehabilitating the community following an emergency.

This guidance has been revised following a consultation between February and March 2013. All links have been updated, recent changes to the names and structures of organisations have been reflected and various other changes have been made to improve the information.

Following a number of requests, Defra - the lead government department for CBRN recovery - have produced a topic sheet which brings together the range of information available on recovering from a CBRN incident.

The topic sheet has been updated to take account of the updated Annex A of Guidance on Development of a Site Clearance Capability in England and Wales and also the publication of the London Structural Collapse Response and Recovery Plan.

This guidance gives basic information on the decontamination and remediation that may be required following a deliberate or accidental release in the UK. The guidance has been revised and updated following a consultation in December 2011.

Publication of the guidance

During the period in which the National Recovery Guidance has been produced, there have been a number of emergencies that have involved extensive recovery operations and deepened our understanding of the topic. In particular, the lessons identified from the summer 2007 flooding and which resulted in the Pitt Review (published in June 2008), following which case studies were provided.

Updates

On publication, the information included in the guidance is accurate and up-to-date to the best of our knowledge, but if you spot something you believe to be an error, please contact Nick Brown (nick.brown@cabinet-office.x.gsi.gov.uk).

The National Recovery Guidance will be updated as necessary. Additional case studies will be added as and when they are produced.

If there are any issues that you would like to be included in the guidance, or if you think that you could provide a relevant recovery case study, please email Nick Brown (nick.brown@cabinet-office.x.gsi.gov.uk).

National Recovery guidance: case studies

Please note that these case studies express the viewpoint of one organisation only and have not been independently audited. Government funding to deal with emergencies is determined on a case by case basis, therefore, the funding outlined in these case studies is not a guarantee that similar funding will be available to deal with emergencies in the future.

Additional case studies are gratefully received. If you think that you could provide a relevant recovery case study, please use the revised Community resilience case study template
(MS Word Document, 57KB)
which provides a structure for you to record the information. Please do not feel you have to populate every section - they are suggested headings only. To help you with the process we have developed guidance notes
(PDF, 66.1KB, 2 pages)
. When finalised please email to Nick Brown.

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